RESOURCE CENTER, CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL

BATU PAHAT, JOHOR

PROJECT & REALIZATION: 2012-2017

TEAM: CHIA SHI CHEE, CHIA SHI CHEN, GOO FU VOON

Designed between 2012-2013, this building is constructed between 2014-2017 under tight budget constraint for an independent Chinese high school in Batu Pahat. With a built-up area of approximately 95000 square feet, it consists of a library, a museum, an art gallery, studio spaces, and a café.

It is a 4-storey building made of exposed concrete frame structure, brick, steel, timber, and glass infill. Similar to the project in Muar but to a greater extend, there are large verandas on every floor dedicated to informal activities. These natural ventilated verandas connect the building to the surrounding greens and act as huge canopies that protect glass façade from the sun. Brick walls are used on east and west façade to reduce direct sunlight while glass façade are mainly north and south facing.

In addition to orientation consideration, sun shading devices of steel and timber provide further protections during certain season of the year. The use of raw materials with different texture aims to give characters to the building and create atmosphere of tactile qualities.